Bottle cleaner



E. A. LEE.

some CLEANER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 3, 4920. RENEWED NOV- 19, 192i.

1,420,714. Patented June 27, 1922.

lNVENTOR ATEORNEY umrso stares EDWARD A. LEE, or HAILEYB R on'rajeio,cannon,

BOTTLE CLEANER,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 3, 1920, Serial No; 362,992. Renewed November19, 1921. Serial No. 516,51

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ED ARD A. LEE, a subject of the King of England,residing at Haileybury, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion ofCanada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a BottleCleaner, of which the following is aspecification. p

This invention is a bottle cleaner and has for its principal object theproduction, of a device which may readily be inserted within a bottleand then may be actuated to cause the cleaning bars carried thereby toengage the bottle as the cleaner and the bars willmove over the innersurface of the bottle and clean the same.

One practical form of construction and assembly of the present inventionwill be hereinafter described and is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the'bottle cleanerillustrating in dotted lines the manner in which the same is used.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the bottle cleaner, taken at right angles toFigure 1, and

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion of thedevice illustrating the manner in which the sleeve is mounted upon therod.

In the preferred embodiment of the pres ent invention about to bedescribed, it will be seen that 5 indicates thesupporting rod which hasan eye 6 at its outer end, thus allowing the rod to be carried upon asuitable supporting element, such for instance as a nail when the bottlecleaner is not in use. This rod 5 is provided with'a plurality of teeth7 formed thereon, as illustrated specifically in Figure 3. The rod isprovided with eyes 8 at its opposite end, as shown in Figure 1.

The sleeve 9 is movably mounted upon the rod 5 as shown in Figure 3.This sleeve 9 has a central bore 10 through which the rod 5 extends andit will also be noted that the sleeve is provided with an enlargedinternal pocket 11. The resilient pawl 12 is fixedly secured as shown at13 to the interior of the sleeve 9 within the pocket 11. The shiftingbutton 14: has a stem 15 provided with a head 16.- The stem 15 extendsthrough the slot 17 in the sleeve, whereby the button may be easilymoved toward either end of the sleeve 9. Under normal conditions thebutton is in the position indicated in dotted Pat nte J 27, 1922.

lines in Figure 3, thus allowing the sleeve 7 to be freely moved alongthe rod 5. When however, the. button is moved to the -posi= tronindicated in full lines; in Figure 3, it will force the free end ofthe-resilient pawl 12 into engagementwiththeteeth 7 of the rod 5, thusholding the sleeve against accie dentalshifting in one direction. i

The strands 18 are fixed to the sleeve 9 in any suitable manner andextend contiguous to the rod 5. The links 19 are'pivotally connectedtogether, as indicated at 20 and the links 19 are also pivotallymounted upon the end of the strands 18 as shownat 21.; The remainingends of the links arepivotally mounted upon the eyes 8 carried by therod 5. It is therefore obvious that whenthe sleeve 9 is shifted towardone end of the rod 5, it will cause the strands 1-8 to swing the nn cends of t links outwardly to the P n ndicated, in otted lines in Figure1, although whenthesleeve 9 ismoved toward the eye 6, the links willmoveto (j Q1: laps d positions, as Shown in f ll. ines. in Figure 1. Thecleaning bars consist of strips 22 of flexible material which have eyes23 connected to the links 19 at the portions 20, as shown clearly inFigure 1. The felt or other suitable cleaning material cleaning strips24 are positioned upon the flexible strips 22, thus providing flexiblecleaning bars which have strips which will efiiciently clean surfacesover which the same are passed.

hen the device is in operation, it is first inserted into the bottle asindicated in Figure 1 and then the sleeve 9 is moved away from the endof the bar having the eye 6. This movement will cause the strands toshift the connected ends of the links outwardly as indicated in dottedlines in Figure 1, thus causing the cleaning bars carried by these linksto be moved into engagement with the inner surfaces of the bottle inwhich the same are carried. At this time, the button 14: is shifted tobring the resilient pawl 12 into a binding engagement with one of theteeth 7 of the rod 5, thus holding the sleeve against accidentalmovement in the opposite direction. The rod may then be reciprocated orturned as desired, and it is obvlous that the cleaning bars will bemoved over the inner surfaces of the bottle for cleaning the same. Itwill be noted that these cleaning bars extend beyond the end of the rodgagement with the bottom of the bottle for cleaning the same, withoutinterference from the rod. Furthermore, it will be noted that thecleaning bars are pivotally supported off-center, thus allowing the barsto have a greater amount of movement When the links are shifted formoving the bars into operative positions. Also since the cleaning barsare of a flexible nature, it is obvious that as the bars are moved ontothe curved surfaces of a bottle, they will easily fit snugly upon saidcurved surfaces for cleaning the same as the cleaner moves.

After the inner surfaces of the bottle have been cleaned by the movementof the cleaner, the button may be returned to its normal position, thusallowing the resilient pawl to move from the binding engagement with theteeth 7 Therefore, the sleeve may be shifted toward the eye 6 thuspulling'upon the strands 18, which in turn will pull upon the links toreturn the same to their normal collapsed positions, as indicated infull lines in Figure 1. This action will also return the cleaning bar toits normal position and for this reason will allow the bottle cleaner tobe removed from the bottle.

The foregoing description and the drawings have reference to what may beconsidered the preferred, or approved, form of my invention. It is to beunderstood that I may make such changes in construction and arrangementand combination of parts, materials, dimensions, et cetera, as may proveexpedient and fall Within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A cleaning device of the class described including cleaning elements,a rod, a sleeve thereon, means connecting the cleaning elements to thesleeve, said sleeve provided with an internal pocket, a resilient pawlfixed to the interior of the pocket so as to lie along the interiorthereof, teeth on the rod, and

means for therewith.

2. A. cleaning device of the class described, including cleaningelements, a rod, a sleeve thereon, means connecting the cleaningelements to the sleeve, said sleeve provided with an internal pocket, a.resilient pawl fixed to the interior of the pocket so as to lie alongthe interior thereof, teeth on the rod, said sleeve provided witha slot,a button having a shank extending through said slot and adapted to pushand retain said pawl in engagement with the teeth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD A. LEE.

pushing the pawl in engagement lVitnesses:

FRANK J. KELLAND, H. L. WILLIAMS.

